To end deforestation, there are a couple of key actions we can take. For consumers, since most deforestation is driven by expanding pastures for beef or soy to feed poultry and pigs, reducing meat consumption is an effective way to make a difference. For companies and regulators, zero-deforestation policies must be more widely implemented.

This combination of interventions involves actors across the full production line, from agricultural scientists improving crop varieties, to palm oil growers, governments, food and cosmetic producers, retailers and consumers. Pressure from consumers can filter through to growers. To do this effectively, consumers need to have full understanding and all the information. For example, many believe that boycotting palm oil is how we make a difference but the alternatives are not necessarily better; more sustainable palm oil (used for food, not fuel) rather than no palm oil is what we should be pushing for.

Individuals

Food Choices

Since three-quarters of tropical deforestation is driven by agriculture, we need to make sustainable food choices:

• Reducing meat and dairy intake – particularly beef and lamb – has the largest impact in reducing our carbon footprint.
• Eating local’ is one way to reduce our carbon footprint but the type of food we eat matters much more for our carbon footprint than where it comes from – because transport usually makes up a small percentage of our food’s emissions.

Don’t Throw away food

Today one third of all produced food is wasted - if we don't throw away food, milk etc, the production need will lessen and so less land will be required to produce the needed and utilised food and then afforestation can take place on the unused land - and of course the saved food can feed millions of our fellow citizens who are suffering from hunger.

Plant Trees

Let's plant trees at schools or in our local community either individually or as part of a collective by organising or joining in tree planting days and events.

Sustainable Labels

Let's ensure that the products we purchase are made from 100% recycled content and/or that the sourcing is done in an environmentally and socially responsible manner. Let's look out for sustainability certificates/labels and buy only those products which are certified….

Spread the awareness

Let's propagate the information, use the TF portal and get others to join in taking action. It's one of the quickest and most effective ways to make a difference. Let's talk to our neighbors, colleagues, friends, and family to work towards stopping Deforestation, it concerns all of us and affects the future of our children. No one can do it all alone – but we can do it together.

Governments & Policy Makers

Since international demand is driving one-third of deforestation emissions, we have some opportunity to reduce emissions through global consumers and supply chains. But most emissions are driven by domestic markets – this means policies in the major producer countries will be key to tackling this problem.

• Rich countries need to monitor their deforestation impact overseas very closely. They should keep their domestic reforestation targets in perspective with their net impact on global forests. Sometimes these restoration programmes pale in comparison to the deforestation they’re driving elsewhere.
• One option is to adopt stricter guidelines on what suppliers to source from, and implementing zero-deforestation policies that stop the trade of goods that have been produced on deforested land. Another way that richer countries can contribute is by investing in technologies – such as improved seed varieties, fertilizers and agricultural practices – that allow farmers to increase yields. That’s both an economic and environmental win.
• Brazil’s emissions are high because Brazilians eat a lot of beef. Africa’s emissions are high because people are clearing forests to produce more food. This means interventions at the national-level will be key: this can include a range of solutions including policies such as Brazil’s soy moratorium, the REDD+ programme to compensate for the opportunity costs of preserving these forests, and improvements in agricultural productivity so countries can continue to produce more food on less land.
• Since almost three-quarters of tropical deforestation is driven by the production of a few key products – beef, soybeans, palm oil and paper – we can achieve a lot by focusing our efforts on these supply chains.
• There are signs that progress is possible. Soybean production in Brazil was once also an important driver of deforestation in the Amazon region. In 2006, under pressure from retailers and NGOs, the world’s major soybean traders signed Brazil’s Soy Moratorium (SoyM) – the world’s first voluntary zero-deforestation agreement. Traders agreed that they would not purchase soy that was grown on deforested lands in the Brazilian Amazon after July 2006. Overall, it was a success: in the two years before the agreement, 30% of soybean expansion in the region came at the expense of forest; afterwards, deforestation declined dramatically and by 2014 only 1% of expansion was turning forests into land for oilseed production.
• There is evidence that while the moratorium reduced deforestation rates in the Brazilian Amazon, some of this deforestation may have ‘leaked’ to neighbouring regions. Soybean production has shifted from the Amazon to the Cerrado region south of the Amazonas, often at the expense of forests there. This suggests that zero-deforestation agreements can be effective but must be considered in the wider context of how they shape forest and agricultural changes elsewhere.
• If we can take similar action in the other industries – beef, palm oil and paper – then there is the potential to cut out a large share of deforestation today.

How can we use palm oil without destroying tropical forests?

• European countries should stop using palm oil for biofuels. The EU – after China and India – is the third largest importer of palm oil. There are some products where using palm is our best option. This is not the case for biofuels, yet two-thirds of the EU’s imported palm oil goes to bioenergy production. Using palm oil as a biofuel is worse for the environment than petrol. A meta-analysis conducted by the Royal Academy of Engineering on EU biofuels found that when we factored in land-use change, the greenhouse gas emissions from palm oil were higher than using a petrol car.Other studies have shown that when we take the additional environmental impacts into account, these biofuels are much worse than conventional fuels.By using palm oil, EU countries are not only increasing emissions, they’re passing the responsibility and accountability of these emissions on to other countries. A ban on using palm oil for biofuels would reduce this impact while allowing global palm oil to be used for purposes where there are few better alternatives – food and cosmetic products.
• Increase companies sourcing from suppliers with sustainability certification. There are now a number of certification schemes, which help to verify whether palm oil is being produced in a sustainable way. The most well known is the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO). The RSPO was launched in 2004, and provides certification for suppliers who produce their crop in a more sustainable way by conducting impact assessments, managing high-value areas of biodiversity, not clearing primary forest and avoiding land clearance through fires.Consumer demand for sustainable palm oil puts pressure on food and cosmetic companies to source from certified suppliers, and ultimately rewards the most sustainable growers.

Research into the impact of the RSPO found that it was successful in reducing deforestation but only 19% of palm oil production is covered by the RSPO.To have a real, permanent impact, certification needs to cover a much larger number of growers.

Innovation & Industry

• Increased crop yields - We can increase agricultural production in two ways: by improving yields (growing more on a given plot of land) or expanding the amount of land we use. If we want to reduce agricultural expansion, we need to maximise crop yields through innovation and effective management practices, improved varieties and choosing the most productive areas of land. Looking to the future, the demands for increased agricultural production in Africa are going to be large, and could come at the cost of forests. Solutions there will have to focus on major improvements in crop yields so African farmers can produce more food without increasing the amount of land they need to do so.
• Meat Substitute Innovations: Alternative ways of making high-quality protein could also be transformative. Beef is the leading driver of deforestation, and the demand for meat across the world will continue to grow in the coming decades. Technological innovations in meat substitute and cultured meat products would allow people to continue eating meat-like products without the destruction of tropical forests that come with it.
• Innovative Reforestation Technology: We need to start planting a large number of trees too, according to the World Resources Institute (WRI) new tree planting in tropical areas can provide 23% of climate mitigation needed over the next decade to meet Paris Climate Agreement goals. Innovative ideas and technology can help with this process to plant the trees at a faster rate and in harder to reach places. We need to find more and more innovative ways for Reforestation.
• Innovation to detect illegal logging: New technologies are coming up and more is needed to prevent illegal logging in the forests by detecting when it happens, and also detecting if logs came from a legal or illegal source by verifying the origin of wood.
• Land use and tree cover analysis: Tracking tree cover as accurately as possible in real time is key to assessing the extent of deforestation and attempting to prevent it where possible. There is technology for this like Global Forest Watch and FAO Sepal but further improvement on this required so that countries and policy makers can analyse their current forests and other land uses.